Comments

Revised Common Lectionary Commentary

Clippings:
Third Sunday after Pentecost - June 25, 2017

Saint Dominiccontemplating the Scriptures

Author's note:Sometimes I have material left over when I edit Comments down to
fit the available space. This page presents notes that landed on the clipping
room floor. Some may be useful to you. While I avoid technical language
in the Comments (or explain special terms), Clippings may have unexplained
jargon from time to time.

A hypertext Glossary of Terms is integrated with Clippings. Simply
click on any highlighted word in the text and a pop-up window will appear
with a definition. Bibliographic references are also integrated in the
same way.

16:1-6: That a wife who has failed to bear children should invite her
husband to have one by a concubine is known in
Hurrian legal custom. [
NJBC] Isaac’s conception is mentioned in
17:15-22 and
18:1-5. In antiquity, both barrenness and fertility were traced to God: see
20:17-18 (Abimelech);
30:2-3 (Rachel);
33:5 (Esau); 1 Samuel
1:6 (Hannah). According to ancient custom, a wife could give her maid to her
husband and claim the child as her own: see
30:3,
9. [
NOAB]

21:8: Children were weaned when they were three years old. In an age of
high infant mortality, that Isaac has lived this long is a sign that he will survive
to adulthood. It is therefore a turning point. [
NJBC]

Comments: Now aged three, Isaac is weaned: an occasion for a religious
feast: Samuel's weaning ceremony is described in 1 Samuel
1:21-28.

21:9-11: Sarah's ruthless strategy should not be judged by modern standards;
she wants Isaac alone to be heir of the grand promises to Abraham. Her own future
is tied up with her son's; she is fighting for her life. [
NJBC]

21:9: “playing with her son Isaac”: Rabbinic tradition interpreted
this in an evil sense. Based on this tradition, Paul writes of Ishmael persecuting
Isaac in Galatians
4:29: “But just as at that time the child who was born according to the
flesh persecuted the child who was born according to the Spirit, so it is now also”.

21:14-21: This story presupposes that Ishmael is of an age to be carried
by Hagar. However,
16:16 says that “Abram was eighty-six years old when Hagar bore him Ishmael”,
and
21:5 says that “Abraham was a hundred years old when his son Isaac was
born to him.”, and Isaac has just been weaned (at age 3), so Ishmael is about
17 years old. We should be aware that vv.
8-21 are from the
Elohist (E) tradition while
16:16 and
16:16 and v.
5 are from the Priestly (P) tradition, so such a calculation may not be warranted.
[
NJBC]

21:16: “she lifted up her voice and wept”: Some translations
(including the
Septuagint) correct the
Masoretic Text, saying that it is Ishmael who weeps rather than Hagar on the
basis of the angel’s response to Ishmael in v.
17. Perhaps v.
17 is saying that God is hearing Ishmael’s silent prayer. [
NJBC]

21:17: “What troubles you Hagar? Do not be afraid ...”: In
1 Samuel
1:17, Eli says to Hannah, distressed at being childless, “Go in peace;
the God of Israel grant the petition you have made to him”. See also Psalm
12:5. [
NJBC]

Psalm 86:1-10,16-17

Verse 5: “forgiving”: The Hebrew adjective occurs only here
in the Old Testament. The related verb (always with God as the subject) occurs in
25:11,
103:3 and
130:4. [
NJBC]

5:20: This is explained in
7:7-13. With the giving of the Law, there were then specific rules which could
be broken – and broken they were. Waywardness existed before the Law was given,
and it then increased. [
NOAB]

5:21: “dominion”: Paul writes in v.
14: “For sin will have no dominion over you, since you are not under law
but under grace”. [
CAB]

6:1: As in
3:1-20, Paul anticipates questions which might come from his readers. and then
proceeds to answer them. This form of rhetoric, developed in Greek philosophical
debate, was called diatribe. See also
3:5;
4:1;
7:7;
9:14,
30. [
CAB]

6:1: That the question is raised repeatedly (see also
3:8 and
6:15) shows that people did not understand Paul's theology. Another way of putting
the question is: if God brings about salvation of humans through Christ, as a sheer
gift, why try to live an upright life? In
3:8, the question is phrased as: “And why not say (as some people slander
us by saying that we say), ‘Let us do evil so that good may come’?”
and in
6:15: “Should we sin because we are not under law but under grace?”.
[
CAB]

6:3: “Do you not know”: A frequent phrase in Paul’s
writings, usually indicating something his readers already know well. It is also
found in 1 Corinthians
3:16;
6:2;
9:24. [
CAB]

6:3: “baptised into Christ Jesus”: It is possible that this
reflects the imagery of baptism by immersion, but it certainly speaks of a movement
of incorporation by which one is born to life in Christ.

6:3: “baptised into his death”: In Galatians
2:20, Paul writes: “... it is no longer I who live, but it is Christ who
lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God,
who loved me and gave himself for me”, and in 2 Corinthians
4:8-10: “We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed ... always carrying
in the body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be made visible
in our bodies”. [
CAB]

6:4: A basic Christian confession of faith from the earliest traditions
of the Church. 1 Corinthians
15:3-4 expresses the same ideas: “For I handed on to you as of first importance
what I in turn had received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the
scriptures, and that he was buried, and that he was raised on the third day in accordance
with the scriptures ...”, as does Colossians
2:12: “when you were buried with him in baptism, you were also raised with
him through faith in the power of God, who raised him from the dead”. [
CAB]

6:4: “glory of the Father”: In the Old Testament (see Exodus
16:7,
10), exodus miracles are ascribed to
Yahweh’s kabod (glory); so too here is the rising of Christ. [
NJBC]

6:4: “walk”: A favourite Pauline expression borrowed from
the Old Testament (see 2 Kings
20:3, Hezekiah prays to
Yahweh, and Proverbs
8:20) to designate the conscious ethical conduct of the Christian. [
NJBC]

6:4: “newness of life”: See also Galatians
2:20. Through baptism, we are identified with the glorified Christ, enabling
us to live actually with the life of Christ. [
NJBC] [
CAB]

6:4: “we too might walk in newness of life”: Paul says in
2 Corinthians
5:7: “ we walk by faith, not by sight” and in 2 Corinthians
5:17: “So if anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation: everything old
has passed away; see, everything has become new!”. [
CAB]

6:5-8: Paul says of the baptised Christian what he says of Christ himself
in vv.
9-10. [
NJBC]

6:5: “been united with him”: Another syn word in Greek:
synphytoi, literally grown together, as when a young branch is grafted
onto a tree, it grows together with the tree and is nourished by it. [
NJBC]

6:5: “we will certainly ...”: For Paul, the resurrection of
Christians is a future event, an
eschatological one, but the renewal of Christian life is a present reality. [
NJBC]

6:6: “was crucified with him”: See also Galatians
2:20. In Galatians
5:24, Paul writes: “those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the
flesh with its passions and desires”, and in Galatians
6:14: “May I never boast of anything except the cross of our Lord Jesus
Christ, by which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world”. [
NJBC]

6:6: “the body of sin might be destroyed”:
NJBC offers to do away with our sinful self. Probably the whole human
is intended, both the former orientation of one’s very being and physical tendency
to sin.

6:6: “no longer be enslaved to sin”: See also Galatians
2:20 and 2 Corinthians
5:17, quoted above. We have a new orientation. [
CAB]

6:7: There are two possible meanings:

The Jewish notion that death of a guilty person ends all litigation, or

6:8: “we believe”: New life is not something seen in the normal
sense, but with the eyes of faith; however, as v.
4 suggests, we already enjoy a share in this life. In 2 Corinthians
4:11-12, Paul writes: “For while we live, we are always being given up
to death for Jesus' sake, so that the life of Jesus may be made visible in our mortal
flesh. So death is at work in us, but life in you”. [
NJBC]

6:9: “Christ ... will never die again”: The parallel for the
Christian is that he/she is freed from the finality of death. [
NJBC]

6:10: “he died to sin”: In 2 Corinthians
5:21, Paul puts the point a little differently: “For our sake he made him
to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God”.
[
NJBC]

6:10: “he lives to God”: Since his resurrection, Christ enjoys
a new relationship with the Father, into which he also introduces all who are baptised.
In Galatians
2:19, Paul says: “For through the law I died to the law, so that I might
live to God. I have been crucified with Christ”. [
NJBC]

6:11: “consider yourselves”:
NJBC offers think of yourselves. He goes on to interpret the verse as
saying: deepen your faith continually to become psychologically aware of your union
with God.

6:11: “in Christ Jesus”: As in 2 Corinthians
5:17, life in Christ is the new sphere of existence, a totally transformed way
of looking at life and the world. [
CAB]

Matthew 10:24-39

Verses 24-25: The background of these verses is the Jewish scholastic
system of the time. When a student had learnt all he could from a teacher, he either
studied under another teacher or set himself up as a teacher himself – with
a distinctive philosophy/theology or school of thinking.

Verse 25: The subordinate (“disciple” or “slave”)
cannot expect better treatment than his superior receives. Jesus the teacher and
master has been ridiculed and opposed; the Cross lies ahead. The apostles can expect
similar treatment, and must be ready to suffer what he suffers. [
BlkMt]

Verse 25: “the master of the house”: Jesus is the master of
the household of those committed to the Kingdom. [
BlkMt]

Verse 25: “Beelzebul”: He is obviously related to “Baal-zebub,
the god of Ekron”, to whom Ahaziah sends messengers to seek a cure after he
falls and is injured (see 2 Kings
1:2) and whom Elijah repudiates (see 2 Kings
1:6). [
BlkMt] In
12:24, Jesus is accused of working with the prince of demons (Satan).

Verse 26: Unlike the
Essenes [probably meaning the Qumran community] (and later the
Gnostics), Jesus was opposed to secret doctrines known only to initiates.

Verse 26: On Judgement Day, all that is “secret” now (e.g.
the wickedness of opponents, the loyalty or cowardice of disciples) will “become
known”. [
BlkMt]

Verse 28: Hebrews
10:29-31 speaks of the “punishment ... deserved by those who have spurned
the Son of God ...” and then states: “It is a fearful thing to fall into
the hands of the living God”. This verse seems to presuppose the
Hellenistic idea of the immortality of the soul. 1 Timothy
6:16 says: “It is he alone who has immortality and dwells in unapproachable
light, whom no one has ever seen or can see; to him be honour and eternal dominion”.

Verse 28: The disciples must not fear hostile people and so become silent
or distort their witness. [
BlkMt]

Verse 28: “destroy”: It is possible that the Greek means
torment rather than annihilate.

Verse 28: “hell”: The Greek word is Gehenna. This was
the valley of Hinnon (ge’Hinnon) outside Jerusalem where garbage (rubbish)
was gathered and burned. Per 2 Kings
23:10, Hinnon had been the site of child sacrifice: see also Jeremiah
7:31;
19:5-6. It provided a physical reminder of the place of eternal punishment. See
1 Enoch 27:2; 90:24-26; 2 Esdras
7:36. [
JBC]

Comments : Jesus gives a new interpretation to Micah 7:6: Micah
7:5-6 says: “Put no trust in a friend, have no confidence in a loved one;
guard the doors of your mouth from her who lies in your embrace; for the son treats
the father with contempt, the daughter rises up against her mother, the daughter-in-law
against her mother-in-law; your enemies are members of your own household. But as
for me, I will look to the Lord, I
will wait for the God of my salvation; my God will hear me”.

Verses 34-38: While to Jesus the family has a basic role in society, a
family is what God means it to be only if and when it is loyal to God. In
12:46-50, Jesus is told that his mother and brothers wish to see him. “Pointing
to his disciples, he said, ‘Here are my mother and my brothers!’”.
The stronger tie is to his mission. [
BlkMt]